The crew of the ship became a little withdrawn as the days went by. Curious, David tried asking about it as casually as he could. Eventually he turned to Silver. "Hey, they're talking about some kind of nightmare region? Local superstition or magical thing?"
Silver looked out over the water. "Magical thing, of the two. I'm not sure it'll want me sailing through so easily this time."
"This time?"
Silver clopped a hoof and turned to face David. "It was a mistake of mine. I can go into dreams, and I prodded into its. It saw me, and now it wants me. I forgot all about it until you reminded me." He leaned in towards David. "If we're lucky, it won't notice me, and we'll casually sail past this otherwise unremarkable stretch of ocean, then we're home free."
"And if not?" asked David with a raised brow. "Should I be getting a weapon?"
The question surprised Silver. "Do you know how to use one?"
"Sure. I practiced a little with my brother, when we were young."
Silver gave a slow nod. "Another way in which we diverge. I never participated with my brother in that. We're talking crazy zombies from the sea, serving the local equivalent of Cthulhu. Are you sure you want to be involved?"
He reached out and put a hand on Silver's snout, gently rubbing him. "We're practically brothers, and if the ship goes down, where am I going to go? I'll do my part."
Silver smiled and nuzzled into the hand on his nose. "I'm glad I met you, not-me. Come on, let's see what we can find for you."
They found themselves in the Anubian's quarters. Despite their meek appearance, many of them had small blades that they eagerly volunteered at the word of a possible fight. "We'll help protect you," said one female. "We're not the strongest Anubians, but we're still Anubians." This got a loud supportive cry, though not every jackal was ready to fight. Sick, old, or disabled, some cheered their fellows on but made no move to join them.
Nefertari was suddenly to the side of Silver. "A fight comes? And you didn't inform me?" Silver jumped away from her as she smiled. "I look forward to a combatant I can utterly destroy without reservation. Tell me more of them."
David had a short sword in hand and was giving it test swings. "Zombies, dread squid god for a boss. They tried to get Silver once already on the way in."
Silver nodded at David. "That about summarizes it. Last time I was disabled by their leader, who could pry into my mind."
Nefertari grinned. "If he's busy doing that, that leaves the rest of us available to tear his little minions apart, then maybe him? Let this be the last fight this 'squid' faces, and earn these new people of Anubian a tale worth singing to their cubs." The suggestion of a complete victory prompted a fresh cheer through the crowd.
Firm Touch slapped his chest with an open hand. "We'll tear them to pieces before they can get within arm's reach, Silver Stars." A fresh cheer rose through the crowd as Firm approached David. "You! Already in war form? It's good to see someone ready to battle!"
Another jackal let out a titter of a giggle. "That's no war form, that's how he always looks."
Firm looked perplexed at that. Nefertari clapped his shoulder. "It confuses me as well, but it is true. Besides, look, he has a pony's tail."
David lifted his sword up. "Pony tail or whatever, I'm going to pull my weight when things get hairy, OK?"
Silver recognized something. "You have nothing to prove to me."
David smiled. "I have something to prove to myself."
Firm Touch slapped David across the back. "That's the spirit! Come, we'll spar." Much of the crowd poured out of the room towards the deck for training.
Silver took the time to find Celestia, who rested in the solarium. She looked up as he approached and he nodded to her. "We're sailing through the creature's domain again, and it'll probably come back."
Celestia nodded. "Is that why the jackals are suddenly riled up? I hope you don't plan to fight it."
Silver pawed at the ground. "If it comes for me, we'll fight it. Rolling over isn't likely to get it to go away. We have sick, wounded, and elderly on the boat. We fight."
Celestia took a quiet breath. "Then sit with me. It won't come until evening, I feel certain. It is not a creature of the light. We'll face it together, if it comes. Hopefully it will not." Silver sank beside her and one of her wings extended over him, drawing him close. "You have nothing to prove to me."
Silver's ears twitched as he laughed. "I just said that to David. Do you know what he said?"
Celestia cracked a wane smile. "I feel you are about to tell me."
"I have something to prove to myself." Silver sat up on his haunches. "If we're attacked, it will probably come for me first. I might not be able to do anything if I'm buried in its nightmares, making this academic at best."
Celestia tapped the ground. "All the more reason for you to stay. Your new friends will fight. I will protect you. Your servants will be told to stay below deck and out of harm's way until it is over, hopefully before it even begins."
Silence came to them. Silver lapsed off into a brief nap, only to appear in the dream world with the distinct impression of being stared at. He was held up in the sky, being pulled out so each hoof went in a different direction. Something wanted to know how he worked. Something was quite willing to tear him apart to find out. Where once invisible bands of force held him, then there were slimy pseudopods, pulling and oozing over him. Another grabbed his neck and tail, pulling in new directions.
Silver surrounded himself in heat and fire as he roared against the violation. It was enough to win him a moment of freedom, and he woke up, shuddering and defiled in feeling across his body, crawling as if with insects. "It's there! It knows I'm here!"
He needn't have spoken as Celestia destroyed a wet corpse in a brilliant bolt of sun. The sky above was dark. It was night. The ship was alive with the sound of wet flesh, warriors grunting with effort and the occasional pained scream of a defender taking a bad blow. Silver hopped to his hooves but practically stumbled back over. Everywhere he had been touched felt slimy and refused to work properly, but this didn't stop him entirely. He wrapped himself in his silver glow and practically threw himself out onto the deck past Celestia.
Jackals and guards were fighting to repel the zombies. There were many more of them then Silver remembered from the last time. They were faster as well, dodging aside swings of blades to bludgeon the defenders with dead limbs. One brought down a pony and shambled over him, looking ready for the killing blow when a sword emerged from his far side. David kicked him free, panting and tired, but grimly determined by the look of him. "Fucking hell there's no end to the fuckers."
Silver focused his magic, only to be wrenched away. He was laying on a table, naked, exposed, and with a frowning Celestia over him. "There's only one cure..."
Twilight popped into view. "Of course. I'll, oh, my scalpel's gone rusty." She lifted a tool that looked like it hadn't been used in decades. "Oh well, science must continue!" She brought the thing down towards Silver's sensitive bits.
Silver pulled at his restraints, and though they stretched with the force, they didn't break. "Celestia, we're past this, together. Tell her to stop. I am your stallion."
Celestia suddenly lept up onto the table, knocking Twilight aside. "My stallion? You have some balls, no wonder we should chop them off. As if any stallion would be good enough for me." She raised a brow. "As if we needed any stallions at all! Murderer! Liar! I would be better off without any stallions around me at all!"
Silver wrenched forward and kissed her. For a moment it was quiet. Their lips were joined, and she began to press into it. There was peace between them, at least until she bit down on his tongue. The taste of blood filled his mouth, and it seemed to wash the entire dream away in a flood of pain.
He came to on the deck, his tongue throbbing. Above him were Celestia, Nefertari, David, and Shei. The last surprised Silver most of all, but she fought as resolutely as the rest. The magic of the Saddle Arabians seemed to come from her in the form of dance. She ducked under blows and came up with surprising force, crushing the jaw of a zombie with the top of her head and sending it to the ground. David didn't have any fancy dances, he just hacked and stabbed and tried to stay alive.
Nefertari was an old hand at battle and darted from body to body, returning them to true death in a blur of destruction and laughter. "Is this the best they have? I demand better! Come on, test me!"
Celestia didn't engage in physical combat at all. The power of her light was enough to strike down zombies that dared to approach. They were all doing so well, but there truly was no end in sight. Silver could see more of them lining up to the edge of the ship, with others eager to climb up onto the deck and join, if not for the lack of space.
Silver forced himself upright. "They're coming for me. We either face their leader, or he'll drag this entire ship down into the water."
Nefertari dashed past three corpses that exploded in a shower of blood and viscera as they fell into chunks. "If you know how to call their leader, go ahead. I'm ready for them. Firm Touch! You still alive?!"
"Here!" A zombie was picked up and hurled from the ship, revealing the location of Firm Touch. Both of the jackals wore their war forms, and used them to tear into the undead army with a burning ferocity. "Hold true, I'm coming."
Silver felt the horrible wrongness in his limbs wasn't going to go away quickly. There was no time to wait. "Fine, we go. If we die, at least the boat will probably be spared." He smiled at Celestia. "That's the way a prince should be."
Celestia returned the smile before she blasted a line of zombies, clearing the way to the edge of the boat. "I'm coming with you."
Nefertari suddenly hefted Silver up onto her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "As if you could pay me enough to keep me away."
Shei said nothing, but moved quietly, like David, both following the crowd as they edged towards the railing of the ship. Firm Touch burst through the crowd, cracking two of their skulls together and tossing them overboard. "There's plenty of fighting to be had, where are you going?"
He never got his answer. Nefertari, Celestia, and Silver went over the edge, with David and Shei joining in more hesitantly. Firm Touch snorted at them. "Fine, I'll keep the boat clear for you."